1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices for use in practicing the fundamentals of ball games, and, more specifically, to a ball control device for use in connection with ball tossing machines of the type having a rotating throw arm for propelling a ball.
2. Background
Heretofore, various devices and machines have been invented for aiding the development of skills necessary for playing ball games successfully. For many years ball pitching machines have been used to simulate pitched or batted baseballs and softballs, tennis ball serves or racket returns of tennis balls. These machines have generally utilized springs, compressed gasses, elastic members, or rotating arms to impart a propelling force to a ball.
Two such devices include Applicant's Apparatus for Use in Practicing Pitching of Baseballs, disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,064,194, and Applicant's Baseball Target and Projector Apparatus, disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,599,017. Both aforementioned patents are hereby incorporated by reference.
The machine of the '194 patent enables the user to improve pitching accuracy by receiving pitched balls and indicating whether the balls were delivered within a strike zone. The apparatus has a vertical backboard with a rectangular opening therethrough, four trapezoidal shaped wings pivotally secured to the backboard that serve to form an opening defining a strike zone, electrical contacts activated as each trapezoidal wing is pivoted when struck by a baseball, and electrical indicators for signaling when a baseball strikes one of the trapezoidal wings to indicate that the baseball has been pitched high, low, inside or outside of the strike zone.
In one of its preferred embodiments, the prior apparatus includes a ball tossing machine, commonly called a pitchback machine, configured to return balls that have passed through the strike zone to the pitcher. A pitched ball passing through the strike zone opening enters a catcher box. From there the ball moves via gravity flow downward to the pitchback machine. The pitchback machine picks up the ball and throws it through a pitchback opening.
A pitchback machine may also be used to throw a baseball to a batter or to propel a baseball toward a fielder. While suitable for improving pitching accuracy, the above described apparatus, and more specifically the configuration of the catcher box and the pitchback machine, was not adequate to propel a high volume of balls to a practicing batter or fielder.
The machine of the '017 patent advances the art in that it may be used to practice pitching, hitting and fielding because of its ability to competently manage a high volume of baseballs. In its preferred embodiment, shown partially in FIG. 2 of the '017 patent, a pitchback machine is provided to propel baseballs from the apparatus.
The pitchback machines utilized in Applicant's prior devices are of the type having a 360 degree rotating throw arm. As it rotates, the throw arm receives a ball from a ball supply or reservoir. The speed of rotation increases as the throw arm reaches a break over point whereupon the ball is released toward its target. Such machines are well-known and frequently employed in pitching or batting practice devices. The pitchback machine generally comprises a number of pulleys, gears, cables and springs that work in concert to whip the throw arm to impart high velocities upon the ball. Pitchback machines are normally driven by a pitchback machine motor. The speed at which a baseball is propelled from a pitchback machine might also be adjustable by the user. Many different arrangements of structural components may comprise a rotating throw arm type pitchback machine.
One difficulty generally encountered with ball tossing machines is the problem of providing different types of pitches, and, particularly, inducing a spin on the propelled ball that results in a curved trajectory. It is oftentimes desirable to throw a curving ball, especially in connection with baseball batting practice where true game condition pitching is difficult to achieve in a practice setting. Heretofore, abrasive or friction devices, such as brake shoes, sand paper, and other surfaces, have been used to provide friction to a passing ball in order to induce a spin.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,583 is an example of a friction type device. The device is connected to a ball ejector barrel on a tennis ball ejector machine to impart a top spin to ejected tennis balls. The device includes a paddle assembly which is pivotable to contact and impart a top spin motion to a tennis ball that has been ejected from the ball ejector barrel. The contact surface of the paddle assembly is constructed of an abrasive type material.
Another device that attaches to a ball ejector barrel is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,143. The outer end portion of the barrel carries what is called a curve control mechanism for applying various curves or other actions to baseballs leaving the barrel. The curve control mechanism includes a number of fingers, aligned in pairs, that spread apart and flex as a ball passes by them. The resistance applied by the fingers to the ball imparts a spin thereto.
Others have approached the problem of inducing a spin on propelled balls by actuating the spin within a guide chute through which the propelled ball passes. U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,047 discloses an automatic ball pitching machine that features a rotating flywheel which propels a ball into an upper guide chute in which is disposed a rubber pad to provide a constriction. A backspin is caused by the propelled ball passing through the constriction.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,085, a guide chute is placed in front of a ball pitching machine, and, if a curve ball is desired, a cantilevered resilient strap is inserted inside the guide chute in a position to engage the propelled ball. The strap conforms to the ball surface shape and induces a ball spin, resulting in a curve ball trajectory.
Though an object of the earlier devices was to provide straight or induced curve balls propelled in a similar manner as a human pitcher, such has not been achieved to the extent that the spin is imparted to the ball after it has been propelled. Devices used to contact the ball after it has been propelled from an ejector barrel and, similarly, those that affect the propelled ball as it passes through a guide chute, act to induce a spin only after the ball has received its propelling force. This is in contrast to the mechanism of actual human pitching, where the ball is held stationary in the hand as the arm is put through the throwing motion and spin is imparted to the ball by the contact of the fingers as the ball leaves the hand. In fact, prior devices, operating off the end of ejector barrels or in connection with guide chutes, are not adaptable to the ball tossing machines that best mimic the throwing motion of the human, i.e. the type having a rotating throw arm for propelling the ball.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a device for inducing spin upon a ball in a manner that mimics a human throw rather than inducing a spin after the ball has been propelled.
It is a further object of the invention that for use in combination with a ball tossing machine of the type having a rotating throw arm for propelling a ball.
It is another object of the invention that the device be compact and readily attachable to the rotating throw arm of existing pitching machines.
It is a still further object of the invention that the device be capable of providing a variety of spin trajectories or pitches, such as curve balls, sliders, sinkers or drop pitches, rising balls, etc.
It is an additional object of the invention that neither the device nor the ball tossing machine need be reset or adjusted between tosses in order to receive a variety of pitches.